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Time has come for mental health revamp

Thu., Nov. 19, 2015

Re: PM starts work on campaign promises, Nov. 14

PM starts work on campaign promises, Nov. 14

It is heartening to see that Justin Trudeau has asked his Health Minister to improve access to high quality mental health services. While the Mental Health Commission developed a national strategy to do this and a number of provinces have developed mental health strategies to improve services, they have not been implemented due to lack of funding.

Most of the previous Health Accord funding went to other areas, not mental health. For example, since 2004 Ontario has invested over $19 billion in other areas of health, and less than $500 million in mental health even though the disease burden is 1.5 times that of cancer and seven times that of infectious disease.

When the new health transfer agreement is worked out, the federal government could help provinces increase the mental health share of health spending from 7 per cent to 9 per cent as recommended by the Mental Health Commission in 2012.

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Given the proposed reductions in federal transfers, provinces will be hard pressed to make necessary investments to improve access to mental health services and supportive housing.

It is almost 10 years since Senator Michael Kirby recommended a mental health transition fund to help provinces improve their mental health systems. This has not been implemented.

A 10-year commitment to increase mental health funding each year by $12 per Canadian (about the cost of six Tim Hortons coffees) would make a huge difference. A recent Nanos poll indicated that more than 90 per cent of Canadians would support increased spending to improve access to mental health services. Perhaps that time has finally come.

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